The Grace Of My Days
by Ngoc Chau
Summary: From the creator of 'Red' and 'Species'. Takes place 28 years before D9. A young doctor comes to Jozi to help provide medical care to the new ET characters, non-humans. Could there be more to these refugees than meets the eye? Fluff R&R Christopher/OC


**Ngoc Chau does not own District 9.**

**So.... I just got this urge to write another D9 fanfic since..... I'm not really at the point to write lemons right now because.... there would be too many spoilers.  
****Umm..... as all of you know, Species is a sort of prequel to District 9, retold by Christopher when he meets survivors from his home planet. Now... this is a prequel to D9 and Species that takes place when the 'Prawns' first arrive to Earth. **

**To make sure; THIS TAKES PLACE 28 YEARS BEFORE THE MOVIE DISTRICT 9!!! IT'S A PREQUEL TO THE MOVIE AND A PREQUEL OF 'SPECIES'.**

**Check out the rest of my D9 fanfics!**

* * *

**_28 years ago on the planet Earth_**

* * *

_'Dr. Chun-Fen Wu. Dr Chun-Fen Wu. Please report to tent 10-2. Please report to tent 10-2.'_  
The garbled voice over the grey mini protable radios gurgled.

The young female doctor of 29 years old sighed heavily and made her way from the officers' tent to wherever the hell Tent 10-2 could be. The entire area, covered in dirt and grim and was clearly no place to house patients, yet was abundant in doctors, soldiers and nosy civilians. No matter how advanced or big a metropole Johannesburg was, there was no denying that the roots of the city was still so rich in its african culture. The golden sun rays veiled over everything with the sand dust twisting and twirling around to every step. It was a land of sun and gold. Barely brown or green could be seen amongst the sea of platinum. She was almost reminded of home; loooking at some of the big white tents blowing and flinging up in the wind. Back in her native China, when people had done their laundry, they hung up huge white sheets and the wind would blow them dry. She could still remember running through those damp sheets and the very white of it brushing back her dark hair.  
In the picture painted of beauty, there was no turning away the signs of poverty and broken people.  
More people than she could've counted wore rags and looked to be in poor conditions. Only a small handful who were closer to the heart of the city looked remotely civilized. Damn the God that got her stuck so far out of town. All these people with baskets on their heads and do-rags wrapped around their craniums, long flowing dresses that swept along the ground and barely hid away pink and blackened feet, strange looks from ashy faces. It wasn't the poeple that horrified her, it was how they acted and tread upon the ground.

They seemed almost primitive to her, so different from the neighbors who lived in the houses and apartments. From what she had read before she arrived in the city of South Africa, most of the population lived in huts. So far, the book proved almost accurate; the squatter shanties were something that was pictured in the book. Yet, to see such a diverse mix of everything; from people to lives, was almost unbelievable.  
The area she was standing in now was far from civilization and even farther from human occupancy. it was a destitute place where there was no grass or weeds. Broken and molting planks of wood were left standing upright in an almost grave style that she was reminded of a cemetary or perhaps the place of a ship-wreck. She couldn't have imagined such a place had existed in real life and she would be caught in the middle of it. She had only seen pictures of such destitute places as the one she was standing in yet still couldn't believe it. The only thing that added some life to the dead place were the numerous white tents and camo trucks.

She brushed a loose raven strand of hair behind her ear, her cold gaze turned to the fence where armed men stood obediently and behind them was a group of the dark skinned fools.  
It was an unwritten MNU procedure that should any civilians be caught in the area while they were nursing the aliens, they should immediately be reported and arrested for tresspassing on private property. It had started when just one or 2 had come into the area and took pictures of the aliens for the tabloids, however a few trips after that; an alien had caught one of them and brutally tore them limb from limb.  
Of course, MNU was blamed for allowing such a thing to happen and had to pay an obscene amounts of damages. Thus should any of them even be caught near the fence, it was the officers' job to chase them away.

Her forehead throbbed painfully against the skin to see that the damned officers were assigned to guard had simply stood there and allowed them to stand and watch. It was so stupid, they should've been fired, no -they should've never been hired if that was what they were going to do on the job.  
She would've -on better days- brush it off and resume with work. Unfortunately, it was a bad day for her and she desperately need an outlet. Chun-Fen snapped at them, her thin flowery voice ringing high, "What the hell are you all looking at? This is a restricted area. Get the hell out of here! Haven't you heard of the last people who came here? They were _ripped apart and killed_ for their damned curiosity!"

Neither one of them moved but hissed at her with their white teeth shining through their black skin, the skin of their lips rolling back. She hated those faces. They reminded her of monkey people, the very scum of the streets.

She hissed in return, bending down to the ground and picking up a grimy jagged stone. She flung it as hard as she could at the chain fence, the ringing of it vibrating as it shook. To her joy, most of them ran away as soon as she threw it, then those who were left started to slink away with glaring looks. She made a face at them, feeling her delicate eastern features twist into one of revulsion and annoyance.  
_'Serves them right for staring like we're freaks. We're all working here. Don't need another lawsuit for stupid people_.' she thought to herself bitterly as she stomped to one of the guards with his nose high up in the air.

"You there!" she called to him with an accusing finger.

"Ma'am." he replied back with a solitary voice and a click of his heels. When she had first come to Jozi and saw the soldiers, she was immediately reminded of a documentary about World War 2 and the SS Nazis who stormed the streets of Europe in the Jewish Genocide. The shiny visor in front of his eyes hid away half of his eyes and showed only a thin line of skin between the visor and the gas mask he wore as protocol. He looked too much the same to the others with their black uniforms wrapped around their forms with the heavy pads and belts that in turn to her he appeared like a robot or a clone. Compared to him and seeing an almost low view of his face, she felt so much smaller than she already was; a good 5 foot 2. She was just about to ask him why the hell he would allow civilians to be standing around when the same announcement asking for her called out from a corner.  
_'Dr. Chun-Fen Wu. Dr Chun-Fen Wu. Please report to tent 10-2. Please report to tent 10-2.' _the garbled voice over the mini protable radios gurgled once more.

She looked to the pathetic radio sitting on a stool next to one of the guards and cleared her throat; the piece of phlegm in the back scratching and almost turning her throat hoarse, "Where is Tent 10-2?"

With a whip of his arm and a straight look ahead, he answered in a harsh voice, "Tent 10-2 is just down there. Go straight towards the path and it will be marked. You can't miss it."

She nodded and turned on her heel to get there. But she looked over her shoulder and warned, "If I catch anybody but personnel around here again, it'll be your job on the line and the damned aliens can have their way with you!"  
She should've thanked him; she was raised to be polite and lady-like. But it wasn't her fault that her temper was getting the better of her. It was her boyfriend's fault. That morning, he had commented on how cold she was acting towards him and bringing up past exes. It wasn't her to blame, it was mother nature and the damned menstual cycle. He should've been more courteous to her and understood instead of being all boorish!

* * *

Going down the way was like going though enemy lines and yet she felt safe. The people were in constant fear that the aliens may escape and attack. Yet there was safety in being close to them; officers and guns were aplenty and all around for their access. The stinking and stained tents emitted wafting smells of rot and ocean fish. From behind them, she could hear the yelling voices of urgent and anxious doctors, shrieks, and the occasional crashing of tin meeting the ground.  
The shadows danced along with the fabric as blowing winds passed by. Chills went up and down her back as she could see through the cracks of the cloth tents and yellowing ropes aliens jumping all around and screaming at the doctors who were trying to help them.

Her stomach churned in disgust for the monsters. They were so strange, so coarse. Withal, one of the agents working at MNU who had a brief meeting with one of them claimed that they were an advanced race; that they could understand everything being said around them and pick up new languages with an almost psychic capability.  
Some advanced race they were; vomiting on their own beds and sleeping in it.  
She could remember a few days ago when she was weighing them for records, one of them had purposely urinated on the floor in her way as it stepped off the scale. She couldn't understand the alien language as some of the agents who were 'translators' and the such, though she could hear the horrid laughter in its clicks and gurgles. The damned thing; if she could've struck it, she would've.

Each time she had to touch one, to even look at one, made her want to scream in its face and swear to all that she would never come back. Alas, a job was a job and she had the misfortune of being offered one in Jozi as soon as she left university, then to have them use her services for MNU. Right in front of her, she could see the large black bold letter spray painted onto the dirty blank; 10-2.  
She huffed and her strides grew longer to get in there and finish up quickly. Her steps molded against the shifting rocks and dirt; her ankles tensing and twisting to adjust and keep its balance. THe ever fashionable Chun-Fen had thought before that her shoes were low enough -lower than heels- but it seemed she would have to get even lower ones. _'Damn the ground and how unaccessible it was for women to wear skirts and heels in a stricken place as this.'_ she cursed to herself.

Suddenly right in front of her, an alien dove out. She shrieked and jumped back, falling down onto the encrusted ground. The... the thing looked at her with wide golden eyes, she saw drool dripping from its mandibles. On its stomach, it was practically an insect and again, she screamed at the sight of it in front of her. It crawled on its belly towards her, she imagined hunger in its eyes and every positively perverted thought behind the action. It's dark brown and yellow stripes gave her an image of a wasp ready to sting its victim. Uholy chills went up and down her spine and she almost wet herself at the sight of the alien monster.  
As quickly as it had jumped in front of her, 3 guards swooped in and dragged it by its feet back into where it had escaped from somewhere close by.  
She breathed heavily from the surprise and tried to swallow a few gulps of spit to calm her racing heart.

Still looking at the ground, the young doctor heard 'the thing' shriek from where it was along with a deafening clang. Chun-Fen could only imagine what was happening in there, but did not allow the thought to surface.  
She picked herself up, bending her poor scratched legs and walking off the pain to the tent she was called at. She was sure that the back of her white coat had a stain of dirt that wouldn't allow itself to be cleaned away. She entered inside the tent, pushing away that flap that was supposed to be its door and composed herself. It wasn't that she had willingly volunteered for the job, she had accepted it but not known what was to come from it. She loved to help, but she hated her patients. The most she could do was tolerate whatever and get on with her work. Smiling was luckily not a mandatory thing for a doctor and she relished that only experience and not compassion for the things was called upon. The money was probably the only thing that motivated her to leave the warm arms of her lover and the comfort of her cushy bed every morning to enter in a realm of death and sickness for demons.

Already in the tent, rows of aliens lying on flat cots filled the sight. That was what she could tell from the sillohuettes behind the thin blue sheets. She walked calmly and slowly through the draping sheets, building up her nerve not to scream and cuss. She looked through the cracks for any of the human doctors. Though, she was greeted with the sights of aliens on beds. All of them looked the same to her, it was only colour and size that set them apart. But then again, who could even remember which one was which because of that colour or other? Next to the cots were boards nailed with a picture, height, brief description, and a serial code to mark them.

She wondered what could be the problem exactly with all of them so calm. Not calm exactly; she could see the gills around their necks pulsating with ire and their golden eyes twitching and glowing from under the dark shadows of their face ridges. Their chest rose up and down so slowly, so intensely that she was imagining their hearts going a mile a minute, but only being subdued by sedatives and anesthesia. Heavy leather straps were bolted to the concrete beneathe the cots and she could already see the small breaking cracks above the nails. Though, there were a small few who were sleeping soundly like the dead.  
Out of nowhere, a crash rang out like a magnificent bell and a voice called, "Dr Wu, are you in here?!"

She ran, whipping the long curtains that were seperating the aliens from each other away from her. She didn't care if she would wake them up. Sleeping wasn't certainly part of their job, but taking of care of them was and if waking them up got in the way... well, she wouldn't care.  
"I'm here!" she called out.

In the small isolated area were 5 doctors and 2 soldiers. 3 of the doctors and the soldiers were holding the screaming and flailing alien down to the ground while the other 2 were carefully approaching it with needles. The thing was green, looking like a grasshopper than the 'wasp' that jumped at her feet mere minutes ago. It screamed and shrieked; little bits of slime and droplets of spit sprayed from its mouth. Her stomach churned and she wanted to throw up at the sight of it. Her tongue wanted to twist to fall off. Immediately, she stepped in and took control; this was why MNU had asked for her after seeing her in trial tests.  
"Quiet!" she screamed without wavering.

The thing silenced itself, but it was trembling and it's mandibles were clicking as it watched her with frightened yellow eyes.

She quickly looked up a nurse... doctor... she didn't care at the moment.... she looked up and demanded, "What are you doing to it?"

The nurse -as she had decided to think- was a tall caucasion woman with a long nose and bright blonde hair with brown highlights. She stuttered, pausing after every few words, "I... uh, we're going... to... it needs it's medicine.... and uh...."

"Spit it out! she ordered. Chun-Fen was trying to not let her fear of the alien get to her. She had been surrounded with the monstrous things when she had to check up on them and even when she had to give them their dosages of medicine but it was when they were heavily sedated and almost drunk. She had never been so close to one that was moving so much and so wildly like a savage animal. In the rare occasions that she had caught herself with one, she had always been allowed to be excused and a soldier would step in to calm it down, then she would come back. Her yelling was her only way to cope and not scream and run away uncontrollably like a wimp.

A second doctor, this one appearing asian like her explained, "It needs its shots! But the anesthesia wore off and it woke up just as we were about to give it to it!"

She stared at the doctor and held out her hand, "Give me the needle, I'll give it the shot myself."  
He hesitantly handed her the needle. She looked the alien straight in the eyes and warned, "If you move, I'll break this needle right in your neck and you can go without painkillers. Do you understand me? Do you understand me?"  
What was the point of asking? The dumb thing could only understand growls and clicks. It had neither words nor language. She simplly hoped her strong voice could carry out authority and it would at least understand not to move. It breathed heavily, its very chest and its breaths raising 5 people up and down on its back. Chun-Fen kneeled in front of its face, modestly remembering to adjust her skirt to make sure that it wouldn't be able to see anything.

The back of its neck looked like a lobster tail; with the thick plates payering over each other that it virtually showed no skin under. She wondered how she could get through the thick hide plates and even the thin layering of skin between the shells. Carefully studying its abnormal face, she realized the only part where she could administer the shot was right at its jaw; uncovered by the hide plates and having less risks. She rolled her lips and spoke loudly like before, "Don't move. Scream if it hurts, but don't move."  
It just stared up at her. She could see no flash of intelligence behind its face. She saw only face ridges and carnel instinct.

Slowly, she pressed her hands against its cheeks, just over its mandibles. She made sure her hands were light in case it would try to bite her. Cold shivers ran down her skin and she was cautious to touch it. The sight of it made her think of large snakes and alligators. She put more force behind her hands and her shaking either calmed down or made her colder -she couldn't tell.

The alien closed its eyes shut like a frightened child who thought that simply not seeing anything would have it go away and she carefully applied the tip of the syringe against its jaw. The skin felt so strange, so odd. She had imagined it as smooth like quartz, but it was wrinkled. Little bumps, almost microscopic, covered its skin -were its skin. She wanted to tweak the skin and roll it over her fingertips. The touch was cold; almost freezing and she wondered if it could feel its own frigid temperature. Without her even realizing it, her fingers curved to almost carress its head. It clicked out something unintelligble, yet it sounded almost like confusion.

"Doctor?"

She blinked her eyes and looked up to the 7 pairs of eyes staring at her.

"Doctor, are you okay? What's wrong? Give it its shot."

She nodded, thankful almost that they had called her out of her daze. She applied quick pressure to the needle and it sunk in the reptillian-like skin. It screamed out and thrashed again. The alien creature gave off a piercing shriek that felt like it could burst her ear-drums. The shriek was literally out of this world and she wanted to scream back to drown out the horrific noise. She pushed its head to the ground and ordered once more, "I said you could scream, not move! Keep moving like that and the damned needle will break!"

It didn't listen to her and she struck it on the top of its head with the back of her hand. Only then it stayed still. She gave it the shot and the yellow fluid within the syringe entered into the alien's body. It appeared to calm down.  
Slowly, all the doctors got off of it, with the exception of the soldiers holding it down. Chun-Fen quickly backed off, not wanting to be in close range for when it freaked out. It was still for a few minutes, almost as though it was playing dead, then it started shaking and screaming. Was it having a tantrum? Was it in pain? She was about to asked something when one of the doctors informed, "Don't worry! It's just a side-effect to the medicine! They're all like that, but they'll calm down!"

They were right, just as it jolted and moved like it was being electorcuted, it quickly calmed down and gathered itself in a crumpled heap. It started to shake and shiver as though it was so cold and its long gangly arms wrapped around its legs in a fetal position. She almost felt sorry for it looking that way.  
The soldiers picked up the alien -one holding its arms and shoulders and the other holding the strangely formed feet- and carried it out of the area behind the white blockades seperating the aliens from each other.

All doctors in the room stared at each other; neither said a word and it was as though they were all studiying one another. the male asian doctor was the first to speak with the grey stubble around his mouth and chin, the heavy bags under his eyes, the short greying hair, and sun-burned skin, "That was very impressive of you to give the alien its shot like that. How long have you been here; 3 months? 7 months?"

She huffed, "_5 months_. And it was nothing. You must be firm with all of them; show them no fear or submission. Besides, it wasn't that difficult to subdue. Now please enlighten me, how long exactly have _you_ been here, doctor?"  
_The nerve of that man_; he sounded almost jealous that a woman who was surely younger than him and was fresh out of university could take better control than him. She seriously hoped that she had offended him and wounded his ego and pride.

Another... nurse, she assumed?.... another remarked, "I know that it isn't hard to control, but this one is new here and it's postively sissy."

_"Sissy?"_ she inquired. Sissy was a word that she never thought would be in the same context for the aliens. They were stupid and inferior, but sissy?

A few of them nodded. "A lot of them scream and run when we give them their medicine and shots. So far, this one is the most dramatic. It carries on like a child; never wanting to be around needles and even when we pass by it, it screams."

She nodded then suddenly asked, "Now, what else is there to do? I trust that you hadn't had called me to just give a shot to 1 alien. What was it that you called me up here for so urgently?"

A different nurse; one with a tanned brown skin and short chocolate hair that was pulled back into a high ponytail, answered shamefully, "Actually, that was why we called you. But... since you're here anyway, you may as well help the rest of us give the others their shots."

She suddenly thought of that cold skin that she had touched of the alien and shuddered. Well, a job was a job. Even if it sucked.

* * *

After giving the aliens the shots and helping the others that were stationed at the tent, the day shift was over and it was to be taken over by a different set of doctors. By the time she stepped out, twilight arrived in shades of orange, red, and even a pink violet. The air that had been so humid and thick that you could've cut through it with a knife was now thinning and getting colder. The white doctor jacket and her black skirt did not shield well against the cold air. Suddenly, everything looked more peaceful than scary. Perhaps it was the warming colours that came only twice a day and yet no one would ever see it or it was perhaps her job for the day was over and she would be able to come home to her lover's arms. Whatever it was, she felt relieved and peaceful. She stepped out of the canvas tent, almost getting run over by a passing bullet-proof SUV that was driven by about 5 MNU soldiers dressed in the black garb. She shook her fist at them, swearing, "Watch where you're going, assholes!"

The jeep drove away. She hoped they had heard her, but at the same time she was thankful they didn't and hadn't had driven back to give her a piece of their minds about her accusation. She had just walked another step when another doctor approached her. This doctor was a native of Jozi with her thick accent and the signature jaw that jutted from her aged face. Her hair was tied back into a respectful bun and dark frames hung on the bridge of her nose. She had heard the doctor's name when she first came to Africa, but the memory of it escaped her.  
She asked Chun-Fen out loud, "You're the new doctor, aren't you? The one who came here a few months ago?"

She nodded her head, "Yes, I'm one of the new doctors who came here at the request for a job."

The old woman chuckled a throaty laugh and for a second, she thought that the old woman would have made a better shamaness than a doctor. "You're too orderly. I have.... something to ask of you."  
The tone of the old doctor made Chun-Fen think that the woman had a secret that had to be concealed. A sort of giddiness filled her that perhaps she was the only being asked of it. She hid the excitement and cleared her throat; a habit that she formed to accomadate her. "You are a very competent doctor. I know that from your resume. But it is surprising to hear of a doctor who was ready to take on an excited non-human."

The word 'excited' was something that Chun-Fen was about to correct. The thing was not excited, it was panicking like a baby and it threw something of a tantrum as well. Though, from her lips escaped the word, "Non-human?"

The doctor chuckled, "Yes, you may be very _effective_ with patients, but you are still new to the species as well."

She stiffened her neck and spoke as calmly as she could, hoping that her voice was stern enough but still gentle for the old woman, "I _am_ very familiar with them. _I_ was first to read all I could as soon as MNU distibuted the texts and manual about the creatures. It is just I have _never_ heard the term _'non-human'_. It-"

She was interupted by the old doctor's hollow voice, "What else could we call them? I hear everybody call them aliens, monsters, demons..... It's not correct and it's degrading to them. They've even come up with the name 'Prawn' for them because they believe them to be bottom-feeders who live off of trash and they resemble the Parktown Prawn. Though, MNU is starting to develop a better title for them. They are what we aren't. We are human, they're not."

She huffed at the doctor's little speech. What was there to feel sorry about for the aliens? They were ugly creatures who knew only about destruction and sin. Chun-Fen couldn't help herself but to argue, "Yes, but they're extraterrestials as well. _Aliens._ That seems to be the proper name for them."

The kindly old doctor made a small smile, "I was sure that you could be the one, but perhaps I am wrong." She turned away and started walking off when Chun-Fen's insatiable curiosity and pride pushed to run after the woman.

"Wait! What could I possibly be the one for? _What_?" The woman smirked and it was in that moment that Chun-Fen knew she had trapped herself. She just knew that whatever it was the old woman was going to propose to, it would just be horrible for her. She quickly hesitated and tried to decide whether or not to run away. From nervousness of an intuition, she started stuttering, "Wha-wha-what are y-y-you saying? I- I-"

The woman spoke louder than she was stuttering and it appeared she would not take no for an answer. "There is a new non-human that has a stabilized condition now. He is a tad more jittery than the others. But he's one of the few good ones we have here; well-behaved when he's calmed down and he has a secondary calming effect on the others. Nice as he is, he's very weak and timid as one would say. He needs more care than the others and I'm afraid that the doctors here wouldn't give it to him properly."

The old doctor couldn't possibly be asking her to give the creature personel care as though.... as though... it was a _person?_ Was she?  
She tried to argue back, "Well... I... uh.... I don't think I cou-could g-g-give it pro....proper care. I- I- I- I'm not even sure if.... if.... I could take it out of here, let alone into my own home!"

The woman started laughing, patting Chun-Fen's shaking arm, "No, no. I didn't mean it care like that. The new one is healthy, but I don't think he would be able to leave here just yet."

She calmed down and it felt like her fears were popped like balloons; gone but still leaving that emotion of panic. If she didn't want her to take the alien with her, what did she mean then? She repeated her thoughts, "If y-y-y-you didn't wa.... want me to... to.... to take it, what did you.... ha-have in mind?"

The woman continued patting Chun-Fen's hand, "I just want you to keep a close eye on him until he.... how do I say it; until he feels better here. of course, you won't be a doctor taking turns with the others to weigh them or feed them and the such. No, you'll be on staff with the higher professionals -such as me- and aside from helping and working with them, you'll be able to learn to improve and perfect your techniques. If I can recall, you're still fairly young, aren't you? You're fresh out of grad and you haven't an idea how to lead?"

She was fresh, but she knew how to lead. She was effective. That was how she finished for her degree on time instead of late as some of her other relatives. She was a very independent person. She asked, "Then, you're just asking me to be its personel nurse?"

"Something along the lines of it. But I want you to be the one to give him his medicine, to make sure his condition is doing well, and all of that. You will be taking of the rest of them with the others, but he will be strictly under your care."

She liked the idea that it was only her given a responsibility like that. But... "I'm very flattered that you've considered me.... but...... It's already hard enough for me to work with them, even on a team of 15. I'm sorry, but I don't think-"

She was interrupted again, "There are benefits to taking on something like this. Aside from better hours, there is also a 20% increase in pay."

That hooked her. "I... I... You mean, my pay would.... I would be paid more for this?" The woman nodded and Chun-fen knew that the woman knew she woud take the job at the offer of more money. The money was good so far -at around 3500 Rand a day- but she had always thought that she should be paid more for her services. It would be better. What was the difference of one more alien to take care of?  
She felt greedy, but it was worth it. "Okay, then. I will take the position."

The old doctor laughed and instructed, "Very good. Come to Tent 10-2 tomorrow at 9;30. I'll tell you more tomorrow."

* * *

**So that's chapter one. Please review and tell me what you think of it so far. Do you think the next chapter should take immediately right to what tomorrow will be like? Or just give you a taste of Chun-Fen's life?**

**Please tell me in your review.**


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